College Students Form Anti-AI Groups at Five Campuses

U.S. universities have formed campus chapters of PauseAI US, a national group seeking to slow development of advanced AI systems until safety standards are established. The organization reports five active chapters. Chapter leaders organize discussions on regulatory proposals and risks associated with current AI deployment.

News spoke with seven students from universities across the country who described peers using AI tools to complete assignments, sometimes following faculty suggestions. Paul Webster, a rising sophomore in computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, said reliance on AI reduces actual understanding of course material.

A Gallup and Lumina Foundation poll of more than 3,500 students conducted in October found 57 percent use AI for classwork at least weekly and 21 percent use it daily.

Graduates at three commencement ceremonies this month booed speakers who praised AI. S. Air Force Academy.

Daniel Liddle, an associate professor of English at Western Kentucky University, reported increased student eye-rolling when AI is mentioned in class. Jeffrey Kang, a recent University of Southern California graduate now employed as a software engineer at Meta, said some colleagues view complete rejection of AI tools as unrealistic.

Nickolas Spiliotopoulos, a rising senior at the University of California, Santa Barbara who leads the campus PauseAI chapter, said roughly a dozen students regularly participate in meetings focused on regulation rather than outright prohibition.